Ingol Memories: An exhibition, digital map and tea towel

At Ingol Library & Intact Community Centre – planned to open Spring 2021 

This exhibition brings together a tea towel created by artist Olivia Keith with objects from the Harris Museum & Art Gallery – all inspired by people’s memories of Ingol.

The Harris has a huge collection of art, history and rare books – but very few items from this area of Preston. We asked local people to share their memories of Ingol with us. Together we then created a digital map recording and sharing these.

Click the blue pointers below to read memories! 

Lot of people’s memories were about home – so it seemed only right to make an artwork that would live in people’s homes: a tea towel. Artist Olivia Keith used the digital map as the starting point for her designs. She began by creating sketches that were turned into a lino cut to be used as the basis of the printed tea towel.

On the tea towel you can see Ingol’s Rose Queen, along with local milkman Norman Winterbottom and his wife Alice on their cart, and children playing on the pipe in Ingol Dip and the brickcroft. All of this imagery has been inspired by people’s memories and family photos.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Everyone who shared their memories will be given an Ingol Memories tea towel. The artwork for the tea towel will go on display at both Ingol Library and Intact Community Centre. Memories from the digital map have been matched up with quirky objects from the Harris collections. This is to bring a bit of the Harris to Ingol. The tea towel will also go on display at the Harris – so there’s a bit of Ingol in the Harris in the future. The Ingol Memories tea towel will also go on sale at Intact – with all profits going to the community centre.

Ingol Memories is part of a project called ‘Your Point of View’ which connects the Harris to different areas of Preston. It uses branch libraries and community centres as venues for exhibitions and opportunities to talk with local people and commission artists to create new work.

In Spring 2021 we are hoping to start a ceramics workshop with Ingol County Primary and Make North linked to the Ingol Memories project.

Year 5 students are going to watch and follow some creative online tutorials by Make North and create ceramic bird houses. The Harris will arrange for clay supplies & materials dropped off at the school (when it is safe to do so).  The Harris will also arrange for the students’ work to be finished and fired. And the bird houses will be displayed around Ingol – particularly in local nature reserves.

The below video is for students in Year 5 at Ingol Primary telling them about the Ingol Memories project – but everyone is welcome to take a look. We’ll also upload here the online tutorials that Make North are currently preparing. Watch this space for more information on how this project develops in 2021.

For more information on Make North see here: https://www.makenorth.org/

 

 

The Harris would like to thank everyone in Ingol who shared their memories, photos and time. Our particular thanks go to Bill Shannon for his local knowledge and support; the team at Intact including Stephanie Lees Pinson and Debra Fitzsimmons and the team at Ingol Library including Margaret Moore, Richard Veevers, Gwyneth Lucas & the Tuesday Craft Group. Very special thanks to Wendy Fernyhough for her time and enthusiasm for the whole project – especially inputting memories onto the digital map.